In his first year with Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton is showing a side of himself that we didn’t know existed. A slightly awkward and, in our opinion, rather inappropriate tendency that we never expected from him.
Lewis Hamilton has never been seen as the most saintly driver in the world. Like many champions, he has had his share of mischief during his long career. Every driver who has fought for a world championship has their darker side — some more than others. However, especially this year, in his debut season driving for Ferrari, he is standing out for behaviour that, in our view, appears clumsy and uncharacteristic of a driver with his level of experience.
The clumsy side of Lewis Hamilton
The British driver has been making too many mistakes that go against the basic principles of the sporting code. Among them, we cannot forget his failure to respect double yellow flags during the reconnaissance laps before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort — those laps used to get familiar with the track before handing the car to the mechanics on the grid. It was a clumsy act, certainly not intentional, but still in violation of FIA rules and rather inconvenient. The lapse in attention, if we can call it that, cost him a five-place grid penalty, which he served at Monza.
Yesterday, during the opening stages of the Mexican Grand Prix, Hamilton committed another careless mistake that resulted in a ten-second penalty to be served in the pits before his stop. The British driver went wide at Turn 4 and rejoined the track while ignoring the FIA-designated re-entry lane, which exists to ensure a safe return without gaining an advantage over his rivals.
What’s surprising is that these are basic rules, such as not exceeding the pit lane speed limit. But that’s another story (let’s hope Carlos Sainz forgives us for the digression). Everyone knows that breaking these rules leads to penalties — often severe ones. Seeing a driver of Lewis Hamilton’s calibre making such mistakes is truly strange. The difficulties he has faced at Ferrari this season might be playing tricks on him.
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